Corporate News | Mahendran Godrej Consumer’s new MD

Mumbai: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) on Monday announced it has appointed A. Mahendran as managing director (MD) of the company effective 1 July. He will take over from Dalip Sehgal, who resigned as MD, as well as director on board effective 30 June, to pursue opportunities outside the Godrej group, a media statement said.

Mahendran, a 16-year veteran at GCPL, is currently non-executive director, and was the architect of the merger between Godrej Tea and Godrej Industries Foods Division to create Godrej Beverages and Foods in 2006. The firm has since been renamed Godrej Hershey Ltd.

Sapna Agarwal

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Genpact ties up with Carnation Auto

New Delhi: India’s largest business process outsourcing firm Genpact Ltd has signed a five-deal agreement with Carnation Auto India Ltd, a multi-brand auto sales and service company started by former Maruti Suzuki Ltd managing director, Jagdish Khattar, to design and manage processes such as finance and accounting, customer relationship management, procurement and supply chain management. Genpact did not disclose the size of the deal.

Surabhi Agarwal

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Tata Chem FY10 net at Rs605.91 crore

Mumbai: Tata Chemicals Ltd, the chemicals and fertilizer company of the Tata group, on Monday reported a 6.51% drop in net profit to Rs 605.91 crore for the financial year ended March 2010. It had profit of Rs648.10 crore in fiscal 2009. Net sales were at Rs9,448.49 crore compared with Rs12,153.31 crore in the previous year. The company’s chief financial officer P.K. Ghose said the decline is mainly due to the higher base last year when product prices were high in the overall markets. Tata Chem shares plunged 3.73% to close at Rs 305.70 on Monday on Bombay Stock Exchange. The benchmark Sensex rose 0.15% to close at 16,469.55 points.

C.H. Unnikrishnan

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Bharti, Vodafone, Idea move TDSAT against TRAI’s 2G proposals

New Delhi: Three leading mobile operators have preempted a policy change by approaching TDSAT against telecom regulator TRAI’s recommendations on 2G spectrum, including a one-time fee for holding radio waves beyond 6.2 Mhz.

The operators to have approached telecom tribunal TDSAT are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.

However, one of the operators said they cannot comment on the details of the challenge as the matter is sub-juidice.

The trio have been voicing their criticism of TRAI recommendations and have asked the government to dump the report, which according to them are retrograde and absurd.

The GSM operators are also critical of capping the spectrum at 8 MHz in all circles except Delhi and Mumbai where the limit is 10 MHz, as they think it would restrict future growth prospects.

These issues are crucial for incumbent mobile operators as paying higher fees for existing as well as future 2G spectrum will be a big financial burden for telcos, especially Bharti and Vodafone, as their profits have already come under pressure due to the intense tariff war.

TRAI had also come under their (GSM operators) attack for recommending refarming of spectrum as per which players holding spectrum in the 900 MHz band would be asked to return spectrum as and when their licence comes up for renewal.

These players are also opposing vacating 900 MHz spectrum because that will mean moving from a more efficient spectrum band to a less efficient one.

If the TRAI recommendations are accepted, operators like Bharti, whose licence expires in about two to three years, would have to return 2G spectrum in the 900 MHz band.

This would translate into companies incurring massive investments in shifting customers to the new frequency band and deploying networks for the new airwaves.

Shares of Bharti Airtel and Idea have dipped significantly since the TRAI recommendations on 11 May.

All TRAI proposals are subject to DoT approval before being made into laws. The DoT has constituted an internal committee to look into the report.